VLF 48

Leiden UB VLF 48

Date: around 840

Place of origin: North France, probably Auxerre

Parchment manuscript, 95 folia, 307 x 250 mm, Carolingian minuscule, Latin.

Contents: Martianus Capella’s De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii and some other short texts.

Special features: around the text of Martianus, a large commentary has been copied in several hands. The scribes writing the commentary use all kinds of high-end scribal techniques, such as Tironian notes (an ancient and medieval type of shorthand script), diagrams, reference signs and musical notation. It is a very good example of a scribal culture of the region of Auxerre, Rheims and Fleury in that period: a culture in which ancient and late ancient authors were studied with zeal, connected to one another and contrasted with each other.

Martianus Capella and his allegorical encyclopaedia

Martianus Capella is an author from Carthago, North Arfica, in the 5th century, a province of the Roman empire until the Vandals took over in 439 AD. Only one of his works survived: a work titled De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii, “About the marriage of Philology and Mercury”. In this work, the story is told about the god Mercury marrying the earthly maiden Philology, a personification of earthly knowledge and science. In this allegory, Mercury stands for the body of knowledge connected to language, or the trivium, Philology for the body of knowledge connected to number, or the quadrivium. Together, the couple personifies perfect knowledge. In the story, the couple receives a curious gift from the gods to celebrate their marriage: seven maidens come to present their knowledge at the banquet. The maidens are personifications of the seven Liberal Arts, the arts of the trivium and of the quadrivium. Grammar, Rhetoric and Dialectic are the three arts of language, Geometry, Arithmetic, Astronomy and Music are the four arts of number. For this exhibition, the author Martianus is crucial because he is one of the most important medieval sources for the establishment of the curriculum of the Seven Liberal Arts. Furthermore, especially his treatment of the art of Dialectic was elaborately commented upon.

From the first page of the text on f.2r, it is striking how densely annotated it is: a large column has been created on both sides of the text to accommodate notes, and in between the lines of the main text, much of the available space has been used for short notes too.

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The book was probably written in Auxerre. We think this because of the shape of the writing. What we know of learned culture in Auxerre also fits the profile of this manuscript. Further evidence is this note in the margins of f. 50v, smack in the middle of the manuscript, from the bottom up and then into the upper margin:

“HUNC LIBRUM DEDIT HELISEUS ARCHIDIACONUS SANCTO GERMANO PRO VITA ETERNA”

The archdeacon Heliseus can be identified as a Heliseus from St. Stephen’s cathedral in Auxerre, and Saint Germain to the abbey of Saint Germain in Auxerre.

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Leiden, UB, VLF 48, detail of f. 2r

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The long text in the red box is a short introduction to the author and his work, a so-called accessus. It tells us who the author is, where he was born, what the work in this book is about, and why the author has written it.

In the green box we can see in capital letters the title of the work: “From Martianus Mineus Felix Capella from Carthago, Arfica, On the marriage of Philology.” A marginal note continues: TWO BOOKS (that is: the first two books of De nuptiis tell the story of the marriage). ON THE ART OF GRAMMAR: 1 (book), (a sign references to the continuation of this gloss above:) ON DIALECTIC 1, ON RHETORIC 1, ON GEOMETRY 1, ON ARITHMETIC 1, ON ASTRONOMY 1, ON MUSIC 1.

The commentary has been written in several hands. Some of them were written at approximately the same time as the main text. They were part of the original design of the book: always meant to be included. Others are additions from later readers.

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Here we see the three contemporary hands on the opening page: hand 1 (green boxes) and hand 2 (blue boxes), distinguished mainly by the colour of their ink, write in the area originally prepared for commentary. Hand 3 (red boxes) wrote extra notes in the space still available at the edges of the page.

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At the end of this gloss (see green box), we see signs that are not letters, but Tironian signs, signs from the shorthand alphabet used in especially the early middle ages for writing at dictation speed, writing in tight spots or for more personal, unfinished drafts. They are a sign of a literacy at the highest level. The note reads: “etiam dicitur. apo toy clitos quia ipse est advocatus nominum” (See S. O’Sullivan, Glossae Aevi Carolini …, p. 82)

In the red box we see the hand of a fourth, later scribe adding notes in the margin: it is the hand of Ratherius of Verona, a monk, teacher, bishop and (887/890 – 974 AD). He picked up extraordinary words from the text of Martianus, and repeated them in the margin, presumably to add them to his own, notoriously rich vocabulary. (See C. Leonardi, Raterio e Marziano Capella)

Turning to the pages where book IV, De dialectica starts, it is remarkable how densely filled the margins are with notes. This was a particularly well-studied part of the book!

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In the book on dialectic, schemes or figures start to appear in which text was simplified into figure, perhaps in order to make it easier to understand or to imprint it upon the memory. Here we find a figure explaining how a being of one category differs from that in another because they do not share a certain quality:

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HOMO (= man) in the centre, differes from LAPIS (= stone) on the top, because it does not share the quality of animalitas (living); it differs from EQUUS (= horse), because it does not share the quality of ratio (the ability to think); it differs from ARBOR (= tree), because it does not share the quality of sensus (feeling); it differs from ANGELUS (= angel), because it does not share the quality of mortalitas (the ability to die). This whole explanation is compacted into one figure of barely … mm!

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These figures or diagrams are a good source to see the dynamics of texts in the world of manuscripts: they travel from one context to another or are sometimes copied separately as aids to reading and understanding. Here, for example, a set of planetary diagrams, illustrating the way in which the planets travel around the earth in the cosmos, is copied on one of the empty leaves in the back of the manuscript (f. 92v). The diagram presents Martianus’s explanation of how the planets revolve, but also the explanations of others, notably Bede and Pliny. (See B. Eastwood, Ordering the Heavens)

In fact, the collecting of different authorities on certain topics is one of the main aims of the commentary. In many places it can be seen how other names are referenced to get to more, better or contrasting information. These references range from relatively specific (Augustine in his De doctrina christiana, or Pliny in his Naturalis historia) to very vague: “alii” (others), “philosophi” (philosophers). It is then up to us to find the sources of these pieces of information! See also: glosses and commentaries

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